At least 79 people have been reported dead in road crashes in just one week, 41 of whom killed by boda bodas.
The traffic police spokesperson, Michael Kananura on Monday told journalists at the police headquarters at Naguru that the 79 were killed in 457 accidents that happened around the country in a period of one week.
"In the period of one week, we registered 451 accidents, 77 of which were fatal, 219 serious and 155 minor," Kananura said.
Fatal accidents are those in which one or more persons are killed, serious accidents are those were people are only injured whereas minor accidents involve only vehicles damaged.
Victims
According to the traffic police report the accidents killed 79 people and left 338 injured .
"During these accident, 41 people died were travelling on motorcycles(boda bodas) and of these, six were passengers and 35 were riders. The accidents also saw 27 pedestrians killed," Kananura said.
He mentioned an accident along the Entebbe Expressway in which the driver of a speeding Toyota Wish registration number UAY 634K lost control and overturning killing a four-year-old child whereas three other occupants were severely injured.
In another accident at Bweyogerere-Kazinga along the Kampala- Jinja highway, a trailer registration number UAY 634K knocked a boda boda from behind killing all the three occupants of the motorcycle on the spot.
"It is alleged that on realizing that the car infornt of him was turning to the right, the driver of the trailer tried to overtake from the left in a hurried manner and he knocked the boda boda killing all its occupants instantly," the traffic police spokesperson said.
Crashes have continued to dominate Ugandan roads with a number of lives lost in these accidents with many insisting that the country has a crisis on its roads.
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However, blame has been put on the users of the roads and the traffic police spokesperson could not agree more to this.
"For example, drivers of trailers, trucks and buses misbehave on the road by thinking they have a right of way and want to push other users off the road. Also, many of these accidents have been caused by over speeding and improper overtaking. We therefore warn the public that they must observe the speed limits on all roads. They must have discipline on roads. They must respect all other road users," Kananura said.
He noted that on top of sensitization drives to members of the public on tv, radio stations and physical engagement, traffic police have carried out several operations targeting mostly vehicles moving on Ugandan roads in dangerous mechanical conditions, 1287 of which had their number plates removed after being found not fit to be on the road.
The traffic police spokesperson said they also carried out operations targeting boda bodas without permits, carrying more than one passenger and those riding without helmets and reflector jackets.
